- Name 54 of 70The Creator of the Ends of the Earth
- HebrewBore qetsot ha'arets
- In plain wordsThe God who made every far corner of the world, and never wears out
- Where to find itIsaiah 40:28, a word of comfort to worn-out exiles
The Creator of the ends of the earth is a name for God in Isaiah 40:28. It means the One who made every far edge of the world, even the places that feel like nowhere. Isaiah gives the name to people who were worn out and sure God had forgotten them, and he puts it right next to a promise that God Himself never gets tired.
A message for people who had given up
Isaiah 40 marks a turn in the book. Much of what comes before warns about judgment. Then the tone changes with the words Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God
(Isaiah 40:1). These chapters speak to God's people in exile, carried far from Jerusalem to Babylon, a land of giant temples and proud gods.
They were tired in body and tired in faith. God repeats the very words they were saying to themselves:
Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the LORD, and my judgment is passed over from my God?
Isaiah 40:27
In plain words: "God cannot see what is happening to me. My case has slipped through the cracks." Many people have felt exactly that.
God's reply starts in a surprising place. He points to the night sky. Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things
(Isaiah 40:26). He leads the stars out like a shepherd leads sheep, calls each one by name, and not one faileth
. If God never loses track of a single star, how could He lose track of His people?
Then He asks two sharp questions and answers them with this name.
Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.
Isaiah 40:28
Babylon felt like the end of the world to those exiles. To God it was not. He had built that place too.
The same chapter piles up pictures of how big God is. He has measured the oceans in the hollow of his hand
. He sitteth upon the circle of the earth
, and from there people look as small as grasshoppers. He stretches out the sky like a curtain. Next to Him, the proud rulers of the nations are like grass that dries up in the wind (Isaiah 40:23 to 24). Isaiah piles all of this up for one reason: so that tired people would stop measuring their problems against their own strength and start measuring them against His.
The Hebrew words, one at a time
In Hebrew the phrase is bore qetsot ha'arets.
- Bore means Creator. It comes from bara, to create, the verb in the very first line of the Bible:
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth
(Genesis 1:1). In its basic form this verb is only ever used with God as the one doing it. People make things from what already exists. This word is kept for God. - Qetsot means ends or edges, the farthest points of something.
- Ha'arets means the earth or the land.
So the name means "the One who created the farthest edges of the earth." Nothing is beyond His borders because He drew them.
The same verse uses two Hebrew words for being tired. The first, translated "fainteth," has the picture of growing weary, like a bird worn out from a long flight. The second, translated "weary," carries the idea of gasping for breath after hard work. God does neither. He does not run low, catch His breath or need a break.
The last line, there is no searching of his understanding
, means no one can dig to the bottom of what He knows. When His plans do not make sense to us, it is not because He has no plan.
Key King James verses that go with this name
The promise that follows Isaiah 40:28 is one of the best loved passages in the Bible. It moves from God's strength to ours.
He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.
Isaiah 40:29
The God who never tires shares His strength with people who are running on empty. You do not have to be strong to receive it. You only have to be faint.
Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
Isaiah 40:30-31
Even the young and fit wear out. To wait upon the LORD here means to trust Him and look to Him for help. Those people find their strength renewed, like eagles rising on the wind.
Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.
Isaiah 45:22
The Creator of the ends of the earth also invites the ends of the earth. His offer is open to every nation and every far-off place.
Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them;
Ecclesiastes 12:1
This verse speaks straight to young readers. The best time to build your life on your Creator is now, while your strength is fresh.
What this name means for you today
You may have your own "end of the earth." A hospital room. A new school where you know no one. A job you cannot stand, a move you never wanted, a family that fell apart. Places like that can make you feel like you have fallen off God's map, and you start to think, My way is hid from the LORD
.
This name answers that thought directly. God made the place where you are. He knows the road there and the road out. He is not too busy, and He is not too tired.
Being exhausted is not a mark against you here. The promise is written for the faint and for those with no might
. Tiredness is not what disqualifies you. It is what the promise is for.
Isaiah also uses this word for create when he talks about the future, not just the past. God is still making new things: behold, I create new heavens and a new earth
(Isaiah 65:17). Long before, a king named David once prayed, Create in me a clean heart, O God
(Psalm 51:10), using the same verb. Some problems need more than a repair. They need the One who can make something new.
- On a clear night, go outside and look up for a few minutes. Remember that God calls each star by name.
- Write down the place in your life that feels like the edge of the map, and pray about it by name.
- Memorize Isaiah 40:31 for the next time you run out of strength.
This is name 54 of the 70 in the book. It comes after the Holy One of Israel, and the next name, Thy Maker, Thine Husband, shows the same Creator making a promise of faithful love. For a list of names to use in prayer, visit praying the names of God.
